tommer: Black had better moves instead of 14..h5. For instance 14..Rxa2 seems more logical : winning the free a2 pawn and having the white knight at e4 pinned. It also open the a file and even if white play Kb1 and the rook moves back, still a rook sac ..Ra1 Ka1 Q somewhere on the a file+ and thats a good weapon to go out of future troubles...

remolino: Black is a piece up but his/her King is stuck in the center and white's black bishop constraints the mobility of the king. King rook can come to attack if necessary.

I would go for 15.Nc7, Qxc7, 16. Nxe6 opening lines. The knight cannot be captured, the queen cannot be captured, lines are opened with too many forms of mate threat.
This is what I would play OTB but will not calculate all variations now, a cursory check suggested too much attacking potential and mating patterns.
Time to check.

14.Ncxb5!? ,
An interesting move, however it is not even the best line. (At least,
not according to opening theory.)

[The main line is 14.Rhe1.
For example, the following analysis was suggested by Polugaevsky.
After the moves: 14.Rhe1 h5; 15.Qh4 Qc5; 16.Ncxb5 Rxa2!?; 17.Kb1 Bd5; (material, play) when Black has won all of the games in the CB database.

[ See MCO-15, page # 258; column # 27, and note # (m.). ]

14...h5?;
Black hits the White Queen.

Either this is a case of Black forgetting his theory, or he was unaware of the tactical possibilities that were a part of this position. (The 'book' moves are 14...RxP/a2; and 14...f7-f5.)

It's obvious that diverting the queen away from protection of the c7 square would lead to Nc7 mate, but White's queen is attacked as well. I tried for a long time to get 15. Rhe1 to work, but it falls short. Interesting is 15. Rhe1 hxg4 16. Rxe5 Nxe5 17. Nc6!? (threatening mates on c7 and d8), but 17...f6 breaks it up.

CHESSTTCAMPS: A wild position - white has invested a piece to get his pieces swarming around the black king stuck in the center. Obviously white's queen is under attack and white doesn't have time to move it without losing the initiative, e.g. 15.Qh4? f6 16.Bf4 g5 17.Bxe5 gxh4 18.Nc7+ Kf7 and white needs to take a tempo to save his precious bishop. So white needs to find a finishing combination or lose the game.

The tactical point that registered with me very quickly was that white would have Nc7# were it not for the ornery Qe5. This should have clued me into the winning combination in short order, but I'm sorry to say that it didn't. I was preoccupied trying to divert the queen from defense of c7 so I considered moves such moves as Rhe1 and Qf5, the latter with the idea 15.Qf5 exf5 16.Nc7+ Qxc7 17.Rhe1+, but after Be7 18.Rxe7+ Kf8 black is safe. Early on I also looked at 15.Nc7+ Qxc7 16.Nb5 and 15.Nxe6 fxe6 without finding the solution - so close and yet so far.

Finally, the right idea hit me:

15.Nc7+! Qxc7 16.Nxe6!

So simple - there isn't much calculation to do and everything is forced:

However, I think 15...exf5! refutes White's idea. One key point is that the pawn on f5 allows ...Be4 to shield the e-file. After <gofer's> suggested 16. Qc4 (and I don't see what else White can play), Black can continue 16...Be7, preparing an escape square for his king if White plays after 17. Nc7+. Then:

17. Rhe1 Bxg5+ 18. Kb1 Be4 and suddenly Black's position looks fantastic. Then if 19. Nd6+ Ke7 20. Nxe4 fxe4 21. Rxe4 Ra5 and four pieces will be too much for the White queen.

17. Bxe7 Kxe7! 18. Nd6 Qxd6 (simplest here is to trade down, I think) 19. Rxd6 20. Kxd6 and Black has four pieces for the queen.

17. Nc7+ Kf8 18. Ne6+ Qxe6 19. Qxe6 Bxg5+ 20. Kb1 Be4 and again Black has four pieces for the queen. Once he gets his kingside rook into the game, he should be winning.

LIFE Master AJ: <SpoiltVictorianChild>
Believe it or not, taking that pawn on e5 was not a maistake, its part of the line. And White's sack on b5 is not supposed to <win by force,> in fact (with best play); White will probably lose.

However, it takes nearly perfect play.

[For more info, see any good opening book, like: Modern Chess Openings, the 15th Edition. (MCO-15) By GM Nick de Firmian.]

OBIT: <Albertan>: <An Englishman> points out Bereziuk vs A Izhnin, 1976 on page 1 of this thread, which we note was played six years earlier. It seems likely Griffith knew the game - no doubt the Informant it appeared in came out well before 1982. If you're going to play anything as sharp and heavily analyzed as the Polugaevsky against strong competition, you'd better know all the traps.

patzer2: For the Saturday August 1, 2009 puzzle solution, after Black's blunder14. h5?? (instead probably winning for White is 14.Rxa2! or 14. f5!? as discussed in several previous posts here) White initiates a winning decoy and deflection combination with 15. Nc7+!

The idea of the combination seems to be to force the Black Queen back and forth between c7 and e5 with a series of decoy and deflection sacrfices until the key position after 18. Qe2+ is reached when Black must either surrender the Queen with decisive material loss or concede a quick mate as in the game.

Albertan: <OBIT: <Albertan>: <An Englishman> points out Bereziuk vs A Izhnin, 1976 on page 1 of this thread, which we note was played six years earlier. It seems likely Griffith knew the game - no doubt the Informant it appeared in came out well before 1982. If you're going to play anything as sharp and heavily analyzed as the Polugaevsky against strong competition, you'd better know all the traps.>

OBIT, thanks for pointing that out.Yes the Polugaevsky variation is extremely complex. I guess that is why Polugaevsky used it against Karpov in the Candidates match the two had in 1974. However, Polugaevsky lost three of the four games he played the Sicilian Defense against Karpov in that match!

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